By LARRY BONILLA/Copy-Editor
The TikTok app was unavailable the late evening of Jan. 18. This was only a few hours before the nationwide ban on Jan. 19, yet the app was down early. For the entirety of January, TikTok users prepared for the app to go down by enacting by what can only be described as the Eruption of Vesuvius destroying the ancient city of Pompeii, which both was absolutely chaotic and ensued panic.
At the onset of the now unavailable app, TikTok users went to sleep with the fear of a new reality facing their online existence; however, that following afternoon on Jan. 19, the app returned. TikTok was not gone after all. It was only momentarily gone.
The original message given to users while the app was available was the following, “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now. A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately that means you can’t use TikTok for now.” The message also mentioned that TikTok was hoping to cooperate with the newly inaugurated President Trump to bring back the app for good.
Additionally, days before the app was unavailable, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew made a video showing his gratitude for President Trump for working with TikTok to find a solution. TikTok’s apparent return means the worry was for nothing, and TikTok users can thank President Trump for his cooperation with the app.
Despite this, TikTok users shouldn’t feel comfy on the app yet. Political shenanigans are certain, and a future with TikTok is still in the air. With this entire fiasco and tumultuous month, I have realized TikTok is not the kind of platform I want to find myself in any longer, and the below are the reasons why.
AN INSECURE FUTURE
TikTok is not a secure platform. Before the ban scare earlier this month, the threat of the United States banning TikTok has loomed over the platform since 2020. After that, every year there has been a fiasco surrounding the topic, and I am certain it will continue on in the current state of the platform. While President Trump has signed an executive order to extend the time before the ban enforcement, no one should begin cheering yet.
After a 75-day-period, the enforcement of the ban will have to either take place, be somehow extended, again, or eliminated should a renegotiation emerge. If the third possibility materializes, ByteDance, the China-based parent company of TikTok, will have to allow the U.S. to have some share in the application thereby accepting the platform to potentially change into something unfamiliar.
TikTok in uncertain hands may dramatically change celebrated algorithm on the platform. With a vague future, TikTok may devolve into an inapt platform that is unrecognizable. Social communities on the app are not safe to thrive as TikTok falls into the grip of new hands.
MASSIVE TIME CONSUMER
TikTok has proven its unique ability to occupy the user’s time. During the pandemic, “doomscrolling” became a popular term to describe the action of scrolling through social media news. Additionally, the term has become associated with “brain rot,” the concept of a user consuming low quality and high quantity internet content.
Exploding topics, a platform that analyzes trends, topics and statistics, found that the “average person spends 23 hours and 30 minutes on TikTok each month.” This amount of screen time can be seen as the equivalent of the average person spending about an entire 24 hour cycle every month on an app. In terms of college students, a survey by Intelligent found that “75% of students use TikTok at least a few times a month, with nearly half (47%) reporting daily TikTok use.”
Needless to say, TikTok is a platform devoted for taking your time. In that time, you might have done something more productive. I cannot count how many times I have procrastinated several projects and homework assignments because of TikTok. The algorithm, as celebrated as it is, knows how to keep the users engaged for as long as possible. To a large extent, I can agree that the platform has educated me and introduced me to miscellaneous subjects.
In hopes of hearing other insights, I asked other college students about their insights about how often they spend their time on TikTok.
“Between two and four hours,” said Elisa Lajqi, accounting student. “If I am being honest.”
“24/7,” said Gabriela Ramirez, business student. “I’m on TikTok full-time.”
Needless to say, the app has comfortably occupied my generation’s time.
OUT GROWING A SPACE
TikTok is not a platform for me anymore. I joined the app in late 2018, and I became a consistent user since then. I was there for every imaginable trend and tumultuous ban-scare. At the time, I was a sophomore in high school, and now, I am a senior in college. TikTok has been a big part of the significant years of my adolescent and young adult experiences. Despite this, I have to recognize the platform is not what I need in my life anymore. After I graduate later this year, I have to be honest and realize that TikTok is a time waster and not a secure place to find a community.
To clarify, this isn’t a total drop on social media. The 21st Century demands that everyone is still connected with one another. At the onset of a TikTok-free social media presence, I can develop a healthier relationship between my online life and my real life.
Lajqi agreed that there is a time in everyone’s life for TikTok to be put away.
“I don’t see my self using it in my late 30s,” said Lajqi. “I would like to think my responsibilities take over, and I no longer need this quick satisfaction.”
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